Casey McClellan planted Merlot in the original Seven Hills Vineyard in 1982 and his family shared in its ownership for years while his winery and winemaking helped make Seven Hills Winery and the Walla Walla Valley famous

Swain succeeds former Wine Market Council Chair, Dale Stratton of Constellation Brands. Swain has served on the Wine Market Council board for seven years. Her board term as Chair will run for two years

Wine-Searcher data shows that the average price of the lowest priced wines in the US has risen roughly parallel with the inflation rate over the past five years. What has changed is the shape of the price curve. In 2006, prices for the same wine varied wildly from state to state. In 2016, it's common to see the same wine offered by multiple retailers at prices within $1 of each other

Maureen Downey said that Kurniawan was selling more than $1 million worth of fine wine each month from 2002 until his arrest in 2012, and estimated that he was responsible for as much as $150m worth of fake wine over a 10-year period.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the California provisions that span some 91 pages of often-technical text seemed problematic, though he cautioned that analysis continues."Based on what we know so far, we don't support the kinds of proposals that have been put forward to address some of the water resources issues in California right now."

In a move signaling an intention to dismantle President Obama's climate change and environmental legacy, President-elect Trump will nominate Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of the oil and gas intensive state of Oklahoma, to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

In the week of an unlikely meeting between Al Gore and US president-elect Donald Trump, Jane Anson talks to Spain's Miguel Torres Snr about the influence of Gore on his own battle against climate change in wine

A survey of produce growers found that many plan to cut labor costs by reducing production in California or turning to mechanization in response to the state's new minimum wage and agricultural overtime laws.